MANNY PACQUIAO vs. TIMOTHY BRADLEY ROUND BY ROUND COVERAGE

Round 1: Quiet feeling out round to start things off here, which is probably good for Bradley. Nothing high paced here, and not a lot of clean shots landed from either man. Pacquiao did land a nice left hand at one point, plus a few more shots, so he edges out the round, but there was not a lot to go on. 10-9 Pac

Round 2: Pacquiao starts the round coming in with more aggression, but Bradley does a nice job countering those early shots. As the round wound down, Bradley started to leave himself too open though, with Pacquiao getting a nice few shots in at the end and likely stealing the round. 10-9 Pac

Round 3: Similar pace to this round, with both men continuing the technical chess-match style of fight. Pacquiao does not seem to be throwing all that much here, and this time, Bradley manages to get a few clean shots in there. Pac favors his shoulder at one point – watch to see if that plays a factor as the fight goes on. 10-9 Bradley

Round 4: Pace picks up here with a few faster exchanges. Bradley lands a nice clean shot at the end of the round, but the best punch goes to Pacquiao, who hits a clean right 2 minutes in that seems to stagger Bradley for just a second. That punch is enough to steal him the round. 10-9 Pac

Round 5: Very good round here, as the pace again picks up. The two men start throwing big shots here, with Bradley getting into his more wild firefight style. It works well for him for 2 minutes, including a very good uppercut that is his best punch of the night so far. But Pacquiao comes back hard in the last minute with a big flurry that lands and probably earns him the round. 10-9 Pac

Round 6: The pace is high here with a lot of movement, but there’s very little actual punching going on in this round. Lots of feints from both men lead to a low output round, and, like the first, a tough round to score. Bradley lands a few more shots, so that should give it to him, but it’s very close. 10-9 Bradley

Round 7: Close round until the final 30 seconds, at which point a tight inside hook from Pacquiao catches Bradley, he stumbles, his glove touches the mat, and that’s a knockdown. 10-8 Pac

Round 8: Pacquiao comes out moving quickly and confidently, controlling the action at first. But in the last minutes, Bradley lands some shots that hurt Pacquiao and send him into the ropes. Bradley follows up with a great rally and Pacquiao is hurt against the ropes. He clinches to slow things down, but he was hurt there. Probably Bradley’s best round in all 3 fights. 10-9 Bradley

Round 9: Bradley comes out aggressive and determined, initiating big exchanges which he is winning. It looks like he’s on his way to a win in the round, when Pacquiao lands a counter left that wobbles Bradley, sees he’s hurt, then follows up with a hard left that puts him down. Bradley gets off the canvas, but does not seem to be back in it. 10-8 Pac

Round 10: Bradley has his moments in this round, which is impressive considering how the last round went, but it’s not enough. Pacquiao uses angles very well here to get in, land the shot, and get out, leaving Bradley swinging wildly on a number of occasions. 10-9 Pac

Round 11: Pretty quiet round for Pacquiao here, who seems to have put things on to cruise control for the final rounds, as he has done at times in the past. Bradley continues to push himself, and while he doesn’t land anything to hurt Pacquiao, he lands some clean shots – enough for him to take this one. 10-9 Bradley

Round 12: Bradley needs a KO, and he comes out fighting like it. He spends much of the round trying to set up the big KO shot, while Pac spends the majority of it circling away and avoiding exchanges, confident in his win. In the final seconds, Pac ups the aggression, and the end the fight throwing away. 10-9 Bradley.

Pacquiao landed 112 of 439 punches (28%) compared to 99 of 302 (33%) for Bradley according to CompuBox. The most telling number is Bradley’s average punches thrown per round. It was 25 tonight – down from 52 in the second fight and 70 in the first.

(Photograph: CompuBox)

Pacquiao Said:“When asked if he is retired, Pacquiao is clear: “Yes, I am retired.” He adds, “I want to go home to my family and serve the people. I love the fans and thank them for all the support they’ve given me.”